A Chaotic World

Chapter 128: Sabre Mastery

Lu Tianzi's opponent did not bother wasting any time.

The moment the judge announced the start of the fight, the Advanced Essence Condensation realm martial artist immediately rushed forward with his battle staff raised up high.

"Receive my strike!" Ren Qing shouted as he neared.

The iron staff glowed with a white light as he smashed it down towards Lu Tianzi.

Lu Tianzi dodged out of the way by the narrowest of margins.

But this narrow margin was not because that was the best that he could do.

On the contrary, it was because Lu Tianzi was completely at ease that he could predict the opponent's strike down to its exact trajectory, moving just enough to evade the attack.

Even before his opponent could react to his movement, Lu Tianzi swung his fist and connected directly on the side of his face.

Bam-!

The impact sent Ren Qing flying a few metres across the platform, but he still managed to land on his feet, albeit a little unsteadily.

"Intermediate Essence Condensation realm?" Ren Qing mumbled in shock.

The way the qualifiers worked was that participants would be matched against opponents with a maximum difference of one cultivation boundary from themselves. It was purely up to the organisers to arrange these match ups, and the only thing that participants could do was to go up and fight.

In that sense, those at the Peak Essence Condensation realm had a natural advantage since they would never have to fight opponents above their cultivation level.

The fight results of each participant would be recorded, and only the strongest ones would proceed to the next stage. It was fine to lose a match or two, but having too many losses would certainly impact the chances of advancement.

When Ren Qing faced Lu Tianzi on the platform, he had not known of the latter's cultivation level.

Therefore, Ren Qing had struck out with the strongest attack he had, only to have it evaded as if it was nothing at all, and was even handed a punch to the face in the process!

Strong!

That was the first thought in his mind.

Yet at the same time, Ren Qing realised that his opponent was actually one boundary lower than him in terms of cultivation level!

Is this some kind of joke?

"Still want to continue?" Lu Tianzi asked.

"You are faster than I thought," Ren Qing wiped away the streak of blood leaking out of the corner of his lips.

Then, the iron staff glowed with a white light once again.

Ren Qing rushed forward, this time focusing more on speed than on power.

No matter how much strong his attack was, it would be useless if he could not hit his opponent. Since his opponent belonged to the type that was quick on the feet, he naturally had to adjust his fighting style accordingly.

A staff user usually prioritised on strength, but anyone who was sent to the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet would not be just an ordinary martial artist. Ren Qing exploded with his speed, his staff thrusting out repeatedly to form a storm of iron!

This was the fastest attack in his arsenal.

Yet in the eyes of Lu Tianzi, this attack of his only appeared sluggish and full of openings!

Flowing River Silent Strides.

Lu Tianzi's figure blurred as he quickly moved to the back of Ren Qing.

After his visit to the Endless River training facility back at the Nine Suns Sect, his comprehensions regarding the Law of Water had vastly improved. Since his movement technique relied heavily on the Law of Water, its effectiveness naturally increased along with it.

Bam-!

Lu Tianzi's fist slammed directly into the back of Ren Qing.

"Argh!" Ren Qing instinctively swung his staff to the back, but Lu Tianzi was already safely out of his range by then.

"Had enough?" Lu Tianzi asked once again.

Ren Qing gritted his teeth and contemplated for a few moments before finally speaking up. "I concede"

After all, this was only the first match of the qualifiers. Even if he lost this fight, he could still try to win the following matches in a bid to get to the next stage.

Since he had no confidence in beating the other party, it would be wiser to concede early rather than to end up being beaten into a bad state.

Should that happen, it would only become even more difficult for him to attain victory in the following matches!

It was a pity to have lost despite facing an opponent who had a lower cultivation level, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Having secured his win, Lu Tianzi smiled in satisfaction as he left the raised platform.

The reason why Lu Tianzi chose not to go all out from the start was because he wanted to hide his trump cards until he had absolutely no choice to use them.

It just so happened that the rules of the qualifers made it easier for him to do so.

When Lu Tianzi looked over to the other raised platforms, he saw that other than groups one to five, the other groups had started on their own qualifiers as well.

On the main platform, it was no longer General Nanbai Zhaoyu, but some other Origin Core realm martial artist who seemed to be showing off some sabre technique.

While waiting for his next match, Lu Tianzi could finally enjoy this demonstration by the senior.

Apparently, it was an improved version of a basic set of sabre techniques that martial artists would practise to improve their sabre mastery.

Even though it was no secret sabre art, the senior had still managed to attain some success in bringing it to quite a high level despite having only worked on it during his free time.

Thus, he was quite eager to take this opportunity and show off the fruits of his labour.

While displaying the improved sabre technique, each move he made was filled with power, as though he was aiming to slay an opponent with every strike.

Each slash he made caused the air to tremble, as though afraid of the edge of the blade.

From the astonished looks on the audiences' face, it seemed like the sabre art had already far exceeded the original version!

Lu Tianzi was just as awed by the senior's display.

His sabre mastery was quite lacking as compared to that of the sword, and that had always been a point that bothered him. Right now, he was staring intently at the senior, trying to secretly learn the fundamentals of the sabre technique.

Just like the time in Formation Master Beimu's house, Lu Tianzi activated the rudimentary version of the Limitless Mirror Eye in an attempt to see the flow of energy within each move.

After all, just copying the empty stances was pointless.

In martial arts, what truly mattered was the energy flow behind each stance!

Hmm?

The senior on the main platform raised his eyebrows in surprise.

He just had this strange feeling that someone was watching him from the shadows, trying to understand the ins and outs of his every move.

He had unexpectedly sensed it when Lu Tianzi activated the rudimentary version of the Limitless Mirror Eye. But because Lu Tianzi was not probing with his perception, it was impossible for the senior to lock on to the person responsible.

Still, knowing that someone was locking on to him in such a manner, the senior was overjoyed!

He was here exactly to show off this set of sabre movements. If someone wanted to learn it so badly, then he would be more than happy to share it!

In a sense, this was like a validation of his efforts!

As long as the other party did not do something as rude as directly probing his inner world, the senior had no qualms with it whatsoever.

In fact, Lu Tianzi was not the only one who was trying to learn the sabre technique at this moment.

Many sabre users among the spectators were similarly observing the senior, trying to understand the concept behind it.

However, no one tried to directly probe him with their perceptions.

They merely wanted to get a general idea of the set of technique. If it was to their liking, they would just approach him later and ask for a manual.

Filled with excitement thanks to Lu Tianzi, the senior even chose to repeat the same set of sabre technique, performing it three times in total!

He finally stopped only when someone privatedly conveyed a message to him, reminding him that the Scarlet Moon Overlord was starting to look bored.

"Ahem!" the senior coughed awkwardly. "This is all I have."

"Not bad, not bad" the Scarlet Moon Overlord praised half-heartedly.

He had been quite impressed initially. But after so many repetitions, he had grown sick and tired of looking at it.

If Lu Tianzi learnt of these thoughts, he would probably curse and swear in his heart!

Right now, Lu Tianzi was lamenting the fact that he would not be able to see more of it!

But there was nothing he could do about it.

Lu Tianzi closed his eyes as he fell into a state of light meditation. In his mind, the earlier scene kept replaying as he tried to internalise the senior's movements.

Unfortunately, he was not able to do so for long before his name was called up.

It was his turn to fight once again.

This opponent was not as polite as the one before, but neither was Lu Tianzi.

Both of them remained silent and did not bother introducing themselves even until the judge announced for the fight to start.

This time, Lu Tianzi immediately drew his Torrential Sabre.

He wanted to take this chance to see just how much of the senior's demonstration he could imitate!

What he did not realise was that the moment he brought out his sabre, many martial artists in his group let out a huge gasp!

While Lu Tianzi was busy watching the main platform, the other members of the younger generation were all focusing on the other fights in their respective groups.

After all, it was a good way of gaining precious intelligence about their upcoming opponents.

After witnessing his fight earlier, everyone had determined that he must be a fist user.

So why would he suddenly bring out a sabre?!

His opponent frowned as well, but this was not enough to shake him psychologically.

This was still the second round, and it was not surprising that people would still have hidden cards up their sleeves, especially those who had won in the first round.

Lu Tianzi watched in surprise as his opponent brought out a sabre of his own.

Unexpectedly, his opponent was a sabre user as well.

That made things even better!

Lu Tianzi took the initiative to charge forward this time.

He put his power behind the sabre and swung it out, trying his best to imitate the stances demonstrated earlier by the senior.

His opponent tried to dodge, but it was simply impossible for him to outrun Lu Tianzi.

Bang-!

The two sabres collided, and Lu Tianzi immediately let out an excited grin.

It worked!

Both the speed and power behind his strike were slightly higher than usual, and that was only on the first try!

How much more would he be able to improve if he continued practising that set of sabre techniques from now on?

There was only one way to find out!

The sound of metal clashing against metal sounded out again and again as Lu Tianzi and his opponent exchanged dozens of moves in a short span of time.

Initially, Lu Tianzi only surpassed his Intermediate Essence Condensation realm opponent in terms of power.

When it came to attack speed and dexterity, Lu Tianzi was still lacking in comparison.

But everytime it looked like he was about to suffer a disadvantage, Lu Tianzi would quickly back out of the other party's attack range to reset the fight.

Stumped by his movement technique, Lu Tianzi's opponent simply could not bring this fight to an end despite his advantage.

Slowly but steadily, the situation started to change as the fight dragged on.

Lu Tianzi was starting to get used to the sabre moves. With that, his attack speed and dexterity were quickly improving. The frequency at which he had to reset the fight also started to fall.

His opponent was not blind, and had quickly caught on to this fact as well.

He was being treated as a whetstone for his opponent to hone his sabre mastery?!

Fuck off!

"Stop dodging around and fight me like a man!" Lu Tianzi's opponent roared in rage. He had completely lost his patience by now.

"As you wish!" Lu Tianzi's confidence was sky high by now.

He had been holding back all along so as to keep practising. But since his opponent asked for it, he might as well try to go all out this time!

Lu Tianzi stepped forward, slashing out with his sabre, taking the exact form of the senior that he had long memorised by heart.

"Ahhhhhh!" his opponent yelled as he slashed out at the same time.

Bang-!

A sabre flew out of the platform due to the impact of the collision, and it was not the Torrential Sabre.

With that, Lu Tianzi had won his second match as well.

***

Back at the spectator's stand where members of the older generation were seated, the senior who demonstrated the sabre technique earlier grinned in exhilaration as he watched Lu Tianzi's fight come to an end.

The senior quickly turned to his companion seated by his side, wanting to show off a little. But he was surprised to see that his companion's attention was already on the same platform.

"Is City Lord Nanlan looking at a junior from your Bluenight City?" the senior asked curiously.

"Indeed, it is fortunate that he managed to win his fight," City Lord Nanlan nodded. "Is General Xionghao paying attention to him as well?"

This General Xionghao was the same senior who demonstrated the sabre technique earlier.

"Oh, the one who won? Hahaha! I guess you can say that!" General Xionghao was extremely pleased. "City Lord Nanlan has good eyes to have discovered him! He is a good seed indeed! Looks like he will benefit alot from this trip!"

"Who is a good seed?" a third person interjected from the side.

"Sect Master Leiba!" City Lord Nanlan immediately exclaimed in surprise. "We are talking about a junior from my Bluenight City. But of course, when compared to Beihua Wanlei from your Lightning Crow Sect, he would only be able to serve as the backdrop!"

"City Lord Nanlan is overpraising our Wanlei! Just because that kid has a bit of talent, he keeps getting into all sorts of trouble. He truly is a handful!" Sect Master Leiba stroked his goatee with pride despite the displeasure in his voice.

City Lord Nanlan only laughed in response. He knew full well just how proud Sect Master Leiba was of Beihua Wanlei.

However, General Xionghao watched the two of them in silence as he contemplated to himself.

Was City Lord Nanlan just playing along with Sect Master Leiba?

Or perhaps City Lord Nanlan had yet to have discovered the talent within that kid from his Bluenight City after all?